Thermomix Pantry: Tips from Quirky Cooking’s Jo

September 13, 2013

One of the things I’m curious about is how different your pantry is when you’ve got a Thermomix? I’m part of a Thermomix giveaway and I want to make sure if you’re the lucky winner you’re all organised for it! (CLICK HERE to enter).

So for all things Thermomix, I turned to Jo Whitton the Queensland based food blogger behind Quirky Cooking! Jo’s blog has been recognised as part of the Top 25 Food and Wellbeing Bloggers by Kidspot (www.quirkycooking.blogspot.com), and is soon to be a published author of her own cook book! (To find out more about Jo and her background and how the blog came to be click here). Jo’s Quirky Cooking Blog really is a purveyor of awesome information on how to eat well for allergies and intolerances – both with a Thermomix and without!

I recently interviewed Jo to find out how do you stock a pantry when you’re cooking with a Thermomix. What was most surprising – Jo has a very small pantry and a very tiny kitchen! Living in North Queensland though means she does have a large freezer which is where many of her pantry/ bulk items go.

Watch the Video or read our interview summary below

Jo Recommends: I have on my bulk buying page a list of my pantry items, which do change, but it gives you a basic idea. I pretty much buy in bulk as much as possible. It saves heaps of money because you’re not paying for all the packaging and the marketing. I find that if you get into a co-op, that’s the cheapest way to go, but you can also buy in bulk through health food shops. Even at the grocery store, buy the biggest lot of flour and stick it in your freezer or whatever so that you’ve got more food for what you paid. But I do have a list of the grains I buy, the nuts, the seeds, the oils. All of that kind of thing. And then I’ve got the basic ingredients there to make just about everything and I just get my fresh veggies locally and my fruit. And then I have local meat that I buy in bulk as well and keep it in the freezer. Fish that I buy in bulk, I keep in the freezer. I have a very big freezer.

There is a thread on my Facebook page also about what to stock your pantry up with when you first buy a Thermomix. Not everyone eats like me. So if you’re not eating nuts, my list will not be right for you.

Just get some ideas from other people’s lists as well. But definitely start off slow because I made the mistake when I first got my Thermomix and the first bulk order, I ordered so much stuff and a lot of it went to waste because I didn’t really know the things I would use. So start off smaller. Maybe 5 kilo lots. If it’s something that you’re not sure if you’ll use, just get 1 kilo, until you get the hang of what you’re going to order and what you use the most of. Otherwise, it can be a bit of a waste. And besides, it’s too expensive all at once.

What’s in Jo’s Pantry?

A lot of Loving Earth products! Raw cacao. Raw cacao butter because I make my own chocolate. Cacao nibs. Nuts and seeds and grains and flour I keep in the freezer. In my pantry, I have rapadura and coconut sugar, the dehydrated green stevia leaves, different types of sweeteners like rice nut syrup, pure maple syrup. I buy raw dates and keep them in the fridge or freezer and dry dates, depending on the recipe. I buy in bulk. Some dried fruit. I just buy two types of rice – brown rice and the Basmati rice. I go through a lot of buckwheat, quinoa and probably Basmati rice because that’s my kids’ favorite and my husband’s. They’ll eat that for breakfast, lunch and dinner if I let them. Sometimes I’ll have a bit of pasta, but we don’t have a lot of pasta. I actually use vegetables more than pasta, so veggie noodles.